The Bear Cage

So.  Tomorrow at 8am I weigh in for my gym’s version of the Biggest Loser.

It’s not like fitness and weight loss is a new thing for me.  Since September 2010, I’ve been working out once-twice a week with a trainer and once or twice a week on my own with a program she put together for me.  I’ve lost over 50lbs on my own.

Unfortunately, I broke my foot (stress fracture) and derailed myself for the last 6 months or so.  I’ve gained back 10 or 15lbs and… well.  I need competition to get myself motivated.  I lost the weight before because a co-worker and I were competing (though she didn’t know it). 

This program kicks it up another level.  Three sessions a week with my trainer (though it’s with a small group) for 90 minutes each time, plus at least one more 90 minute cardio workout on my own.  I also take a riding lesson once a week and do yoga once or twice a week.  In order to win, I need to lose just over 1% of my body weight each week.  That’s 3-4 lbs a week.  Yikes.

I have my BodyMedia Fit, my Garmin Forerunner heart rate monitor, a foot pod for tracking distance inside (because I live in the frigid north and refuse to run in -30C outside).  I have the gadgets, but I’m paranoid I don’t have the know-how for the eating and nutrition bit. I’m planning to eat 1800 calories per day and to track my food using a scale, etc.  I have an online membership to Weight Watchers and plenty of healthy cookbooks.

What am I missing? What do I need to get started? Can any of you fitness and nutrition people out there give me some good sites and resources to keep me on track? I know the fitness bit it something I can do.  It’s the nutrition I’m worried about.

If I win this thing (and I do have a chance; my numbers were good enough to win last time they offered the program), I get prizes worth over $5,000 - a year’s membership to my gym, a personal training package, fitness gear, etc, etc.  So I just have to do it now.

Clearly you can see I’m nervous about this, hence my rambling on and on and on… I’m mostly just thinking aloud and psyching myself up to be awesome at this.

Education people on my list - I apologize ahead of time; I might be talking a lot about fitness/nutrition for the next little while.

So - do any of you have any suggestions or tips for me? Please?

I admit.  I was worried that so many of my students seemed to want to read books on their iPods and iPhones.

“The screen is too small,” my brain screamed at them as they squinted at the words. 

“There are no good free books,” my brain shouted at me as I tried to find them things to read on their tiny little screens.

But then?  Something magical happened.  They ignored those cheesy romance novels and the instructional guides after a few snickers about that S.E.X. word that kept popping up.  They started digging deeper into the “free books” category.

And then one student updated her “What Am I Reading” sign.  I admit, I was expecting to see a light piece of fluff as the title.  There’s nothing wrong with fluff, but sometimes I wish I could get them reading a little deeper into the canon of English literature.

Imagine my surprise when she writes, “Anne of Green Gables.”  I must have made a delighted little squeal because she turned and looked at me, and even though everyone was silent and reading, she blurted across the room, “It’s my new favourite, Ms. A!  I read it until I fell asleep last night!”  This, from a grade 7 student who up until now read nothing other than easy series or magazines.

The next day, Sam updates his reading sign.  This young fellow enjoys reading but hasn’t ever ventured beyond a very specific set of criteria - Bone, Owls, or Lions.  His sign?  “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”  His comment?  “Even though it’s kind of old and everyone talks weird, Tom and Huck are pretty freaking cool!”

One day later, the quietest girl in the class, a girl who loves to read and reads well (Grade 7 and just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), updates her reading sign. Her new find? “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”  Everyone knows this girl reads good books and interesting books, so when one of my non-readers asks her what it’s about, T tells them that these are the “original fairy tales! The gross ones and the violent ones!”

Before I know it, everyone is downloading these new fairy tales and by the end of the class, ten students are comparing their favourite fairy tales with each other and talking about how time has changed them.

I take it back; I’m totally ok with reading on small screens.

miggylol replied to your photo: Pain by cat. I said a bad word. (Taken with…

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I couldn’t agree more. I’m having trouble moving my fingers even with it all doctored up… And now I’m going to get the inevitable questions from my students tomorrow about why it looks like I tried to end it all after school. *g*